Look at that payload of pollen on this hard-working beauty . . .

We all know about the symbiotic relationship between milkweed and the wonderful Monarch butterflies, but there is a dark side to milkweed, especially for bees . . .

The late evening sun bathes a Bumblebee in rim light as it buzzes to its next destination among the flowers.

To bumblebee or not to bumblebee, hmmmm? Just can't help myself when I'm sitting with the flowers to follow these guys from flower to flower and watch them hard at work. So, I'll go ahead and bumblebee and hope folks don't tire of seeing images of these wonders of nature.

Pollen Sacs. What in the heck? Last summer as various types of bees began visiting the flowers, some of the captures showed a few of the bees with these yellow things on their legs - both honey bees and bumblebees had them. Not being a guru on bees, the research began . . .

Back in September the bumblebees had become quite active around the flowers, and I was watching this one in particular as it collected some pollen from this finch-plucked flower, and then it crawled out onto these two petals and it stopped moving . . . for about 8 to 10 minutes. Then it started its wing machine . . .